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Smartphone & Car Stereo - how to get best sound?

T

testwork

Active Member
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 Android phone that I love.
But it's the USA model with crappy built in DAC. And I'm not impressed with the sound quality.

What are my options for getting great sound quality, while still using my smartphone as my media source (Pandora, MP3's, video, etc)?

I've been hearing about folks using external DAC's between the smartphone and car stereo. But I don't know the first thing about DAC's.

Any suggestions?
 
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Seems a bit silly to carry around a netbook in your car just for music playback.

HRT makes an external DAC for ipods/iphones (iStreamer), but I don't think that they have one for android.

Chances are, unless you upgraded your car stereo, it also sounds crappy because of the crappy stock stereo.

Get a car receiver with a USB input that supports android playback. For example: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KDCX396/Kenwood-Excelon-KDC-X396.html?tp=5684
Note that in the features they are touting bypassing the iPod's DAC and using their own 24-bit DAC. It also says it supports android playback via USB.

This is just an example. There are a number of similar units from Kenwood and other brands like Alpine and Clarion and Pioneer. There are even a bunch out there that support untethered playback through bluetooth. In my experience, this rapidly uses up your phone's battery life, and you end up having to plug it in anyway.
 
burgerbob said:
Don't listen to music in the car, because it's dangerous.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1870853.stm
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2032-fast-music-linked-to-car-crashes.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...-arent-just-infuriating-theyre-dangerous.html

I'm only kidding a little bit. I don't listen to music in my car anymore (stopped because the stereo isn't good) and I'm a much safer driver because of it.

Not a personal attack, more of a public service announcement.
Click to expand...

You know what's more dangerous than music? Other passengers, especially children.

Fussing over radios/cds contributes to 7% of car accidents while distractions due to other passengers including children contributes to 9% of accidents. (source: http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=5399)

Just be responsible and never let anyone else in your car.

I'm only kidding a little bit. I don't allow any other people in my car anymore (stopped because other people suck) and I'm a much safer driver because of it.

This is not a personal attack, more of a public service announcement. :rolleyes:
 
I have Samsung SII. I rip mp3's (best quality) to micro SD card which is inserted into Samsung.
I upgraded car speakers sounds great.

As you said already using internal DAC. Unless you can bypass that not sure how external DAC will help.

Does FM radio sound better? Is it the car radio or phone that needs improvement? Maybe you need to upgrade car speakers?

How does phone sound connected to home stereo?
 
KentTeffeteller said:
Android devices may or may not be able to use a USB DAC. Most likely not due to lack of drivers.
Click to expand...

If car stereos are now being equipped with USB-capability, then I suppose an HRT MSII could work (as long as it was indeed able to get it's power from that USB-port the way it would on a computer). The HRT stuff is awesome for the price. I had a couple friends of mine both try my MSII. One of them has a recording studio in his house and the other friend does the music-server thing, and they both thought it worked great. The one with the music-server is planning on buying one as soon as he has the extra cash (The one with the recording studio has a $1500 pro-studio ADC/DAC "soundcard"... Big rack unit... He said the HRT held it's own though, and he really-liked the way it's voiced and how it doesn't have a "digital" sound to it).
 
Is your car system good enough that you'd hear the difference between a good DAC and a mediocre one?
(especially when listening to compressed music like Pandora or MP3s, etc.)

As long as you're NOT using the headphone jack to connect to your stereo (2nd worst option after FM tranmsitter), I'd think the difference might be minimal (and maybe not worth the effort).
 
Gang-Twanger said:
If car stereos are now being equipped with USB-capability, then I suppose an HRT MSII could work (as long as it was indeed able to get it's power from that USB-port the way it would on a computer). The HRT stuff is awesome for the price. I had a couple friends of mine both try my MSII. One of them has a recording studio in his house and the other friend does the music-server thing, and they both thought it worked great. The one with the music-server is planning on buying one as soon as he has the extra cash (The one with the recording studio has a $1500 pro-studio ADC/DAC "soundcard"... Big rack unit... He said the HRT held it's own though, and he really-liked the way it's voiced and how it doesn't have a "digital" sound to it).
Click to expand...

There's no way I can see that an HRT MSII would work with a car stereo by connecting it to the USB on the stereo. The MSII USB is not just for power, but also for audio input. The source in this case is the android phone, not the stereo. The OP could bypass the internal DAC in his phone by plugging the phone's USB charging/data cable into the USB input on the hypothetical stereo, thus using the purportedly superior DAC in the stereo and not the crummy DAC in his phone. I don't see where another external DAC like the MSII fits into this equation.

Supposedly HRT's USB DACs work with the new MS Surface tablet. Which is cool, but totally off topic.
 
OK so check this out: I did some googling and looks like there is a way to get an external DAC working with and android device.

See this thread for a discussion on how to connect an android device to a USB DAC: http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f...ut-using-external-dacs-android-tablets-12581/

It looks like it is possible since Android 4.1 (Jellybean). It seems all you need is a USB OTG (on the go) cable to adapt the USB port on your phone to the standard USB cable that DACs use. There is a list of DACs that have been tested and work with the Samsung Galaxy S III and the HRT MSII is among them! Also the Behringer UCA202 which is a cheaper option that I see recommended a lot on this forum is supposed to work.
 
A lot of aftermarket car stereos come now with the ability to control pandora- don't know if that's an Iphone only feature though. I would imagine that would bypass the phones DAC since there has got to be a DAC in the car stereo. It would also make changing stations much easier.

The differences in SQ would also have a lot to do with how good your car stereo is. I have a 2006 Nissan Sentra with the Rockford Fosgate audio package that sounds way better than the base stereo but not high end. It has the dreaded 1/8" aux input that I use to plug my Iphone into from the headphone out. I also use my Cowon D2 to play MP3's and FLAC. The high quality MP3 and FLAC files sound the same as when I play a CD for the most part. The only difference in SQ I would attribute to the SQ of Pandora.

Now I'm not saying FLAC through a 1/8" jack sounds the same as a CD in all cases, just that my system isnt revealing enough to really show any differences. Add in the fact that my car isn't very well insulated and has a lot of wind and road noise, especially on the highway. I imagine a high end system in a super quiet Lexus would probably show audible differences. Just something to keep in mind.
 
Sorry guys, I got so busy with my googling that I forgot about this thread. Thanks for all the great responses!

I just bought a Behringer UCA 202 DAC for $29 shipped.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160904879602?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

If I like it in my car, then I'll use the Behringer out in my garage with my android phone and powered M-Audio monitors. And I'll then purchase one of these tiny little $50 DACs for my car:

http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=2452730&st=160&p=54596977&#entry54596977

http://hifimediy.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=62&product_id=83

They are TINY! And have great reviews everywhere.
 
burgerbob said:
Don't listen to music in the car, because it's dangerous.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1870853.stm
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2032-fast-music-linked-to-car-crashes.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...-arent-just-infuriating-theyre-dangerous.html

I'm only kidding a little bit. I don't listen to music in my car anymore (stopped because the stereo isn't good) and I'm a much safer driver because of it.

Not a personal attack, more of a public service announcement.
Click to expand...

You're about as fun as that guy in General Off Topic Forums lecturing us about the lottery. :D

But I'm with you, generally. I had my daily driver for several months before I discovered it had a great factory Kenwood system with a mega-amp in the trunk. I simply didn't think to turn it on. And since then, it's been used like once, to listen to a few CDs on a long road trip. (But made a 2,000-mile trip recently without turning it on.)

I like hearing the sound of my car and all those around me and not being distracted by music so I can notice the assholes who can't do a two-left-turn-lane left.
 
I use a Sony radio in my vehicle and it has a Ipod interface for hooking up an iPod. The Ipod is in the glove compartment, so there are no wires hanging all over the place. The song names and artist are displayed on the radio display. As cheap as used iPods are it is a no brainer as an ipod can hold most, if not all of your whole music collection. So far, I have been able to drive and listen to music at the same time without having an accident.
 
Let us know how the behringer works out for you, I have a motorola bionic with pretty mediocre sound quality.
 
240sx4u said:
Let us know how the behringer works out for you, I have a motorola bionic with pretty mediocre sound quality.
Click to expand...

This.

I often run my phone through my den system or my backup vintage rig, and would like a cheap DAC to improve that experience.
 
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